Malachi 1:1–4:6
A prophecy:a The wordb of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.a
2 “I have lovedc you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask,d ‘How have you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,e 3 but Esau I have hated,f and I have turned his hill country into a wastelandg and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.h”
4 Edomi may say, “Though we have been crushed, we will rebuildj the ruins.”
But this is what the Lord Almighty says: “They may build, but I will demolish.k They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord.l 5 You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Greatm is the Lord—even beyond the borders of Israel!’n
Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices
6 “A son honors his father,o and a slave his master.p If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respectq due me?” says the Lord Almighty.r
“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask,s ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled foodt on my altar.
“But you ask,u ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s tablev is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals,w is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleasedx with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.y
9 “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offeringsz from your hands, will he accepta you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors,b so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleasedc with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will acceptd no offeringe from your hands. 11 My name will be greatf among the nations,g from where the sun rises to where it sets.h In every place incensei and pure offeringsj will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s tablek is defiled,’ and, ‘Its foodl is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’m and you sniff at it contemptuously,n” says the Lord Almighty.
“When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices,o should I accept them from your hands?”p says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animalq to the Lord. For I am a great king,r” says the Lord Almighty,s “and my name is to be fearedt among the nations.u
Additional Warning to the Priests
2 “And now, you priests, this warning is for you.v 2 If you do not listen,w and if you do not resolve to honorx my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a cursey on you, and I will curse your blessings.z Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendantsa; I will smear on your faces the dunga from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it.b 4 And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that my covenant with Levic may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenantd of life and peace,e and I gave them to him; this called for reverencef and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instructiong was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walkedh with me in peacei and uprightness,j and turned many from sin.k
7 “For the lips of a priestl ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messengerm of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.n 8 But you have turned from the wayo and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;p you have violated the covenantq with Levi,”r says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despiseds and humiliatedt before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partialityu in matters of the law.”v
Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
10 Do we not all have one Fatherb?w Did not one God create us?x Why do we profane the covenanty of our ancestors by being unfaithfulz to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestablea thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord lovesb by marryingc women who worship a foreign god.d 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord removee him from the tents of Jacobc f—even though he brings an offeringg to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.h You weep and waili because he no longer looks with favorj on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.k 14 You ask,l “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witnessm between you and the wife of your youth.n You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.o
15 Has not the one God made you?p You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.d q So be on your guard,r and do not be unfaithfuls to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,t” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”e u says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard,v and do not be unfaithful.
Breaking Covenant Through Injustice
17 You have weariedw the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.x
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleasedy with them” or “Where is the God of justice?z”
3 “I will send my messenger,a who will prepare the way before me.b Then suddenly the Lordc you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant,d whom you desire,e will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
2 But who can enduref the day of his coming?g Who can standh when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s firei or a launderer’s soap.j 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver;k he will purifyl the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.m Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,n 4 and the offeringso of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.p
5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers,q adulterersr and perjurers,s against those who defraud laborers of their wages,t who oppress the widowsu and the fatherless, and deprive the foreignersv among you of justice, but do not fearw me,” says the Lord Almighty.
Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
6 “I the Lord do not change.x So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.y 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned awayz from my decrees and have not kept them. Returna to me, and I will return to you,”b says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask,c ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal robd God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithese and offerings. 9 You are under a cursef—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole titheg into the storehouse,h that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgatesi of heaven and pour outj so much blessingk that there will not be room enough to store it.l 11 I will prevent pests from devouringm your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,n” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed,o for yours will be a delightful land,”p says the Lord Almighty.q
Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God
13 “You have spoken arrogantlyr against me,” says the Lord.
“Yet you ask,s ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futilet to serveu God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirementsv and going about like mournersw before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogantx blessed. Certainly evildoersy prosper,z and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard.a A scrollb of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who fearedc the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be myd treasured possession.e I will sparef them, just as a father has compassion and spares his song who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteoush and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.i
4 a “Surely the day is coming;j it will burn like a furnace.k All the arrogantl and every evildoer will be stubble,m and the day that is coming will set them on fire,n” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a brancho will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name,p the sun of righteousnessq will rise with healingr in its rays. And you will go out and frolics like well-fed calves. 3 Then you will tramplet on the wicked; they will be ashesu under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty.
4 “Remember the lawv of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horebw for all Israel.x
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijahy to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.z 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children,a and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strikeb the land with total destruction.”c